Return of Sri Lanka's forgotten war

Since the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; "Tamil Tigers") broke a four-month ceasefire with the Sri Lankan government in April this year, the human rights situation in the country's Eastern Province has deteriorated rapidly. Peace Brigades International (PBI) is among the few international organisations with a presence in the region. DOMINIQUE SAILLARD spoke to Michael Valliant, a recent PBI volunteer, and Fernando Nicasio, a current volunteer on the project.

When the Sri Lanka Bar Association made a request for accompaniment services, PBI was able to respond and began its work escorting human rights lawyers, who had been threatened for filing writs of habeas corpus.

In 1990, there was a major upsurge in the war against the Tamil forces in the north. Faced with two wars, the government passed harsh emergency laws. Death squads sprang up, giving covert support to the government security apparatus; and around 40,000 were disappeared or killed over the next four years.

"We moved into working with civil rights organisations, civil society organisations, and trade unions; all of these groups had experience of great oppression during that whole period, with the government cracking down on the insurrection," Michael explains.

The November 1994 elections brought new hope: the People's Alliance, a coalition of 11 parties including Tamil and Muslim parties, came to power and its leader Chandrika Kumaratunga was subsequently elected president.

"There was an amazing change in the population" says Michael. "There was a great hope that the ethnic conflict with the LTTE could be resolved peacefully, and there was a great flurry of activity. Kumaratunga won the presidency with the highest percentage in the history of the country; and she had campaigned on a peace platform. So there were high hopes that things were going to change."

The post-election truce held for four months, during which time talks were begun, the "disappearance commissions" established to investigate human rights abuses in the recent past, and community groups formed to safeguard human rights in the villages and towns.

So what led to the breaking of the ceasefire? "It depends on who you talk to" says Fernando. "The view of the Tigers and many of the Tamil population was that the agreements made in the four rounds of talks--those agreements which affected the North, the Tamil population, and the Tigers--weren't implemented at all by the government.

"The Tigers broke the ceasefire but the government opened the door for this to happen. The government, for its part, argues that the Tigers are not interested in peace at all--that they want independence at any cost."

It appears that the Tigers made use of the ceasefire to build up their arsenal. The most dramatic example was the use of surface-to-air missiles in shooting down airforce transport planes. It also appears that the guerrillas have bought ultralight aircraft from France for use in suicide attacks.

>>> Peace without the LTTE?

The government initially reacted to the breaking of the ceasefire by saying that they would "bring about peace without the LTTE" - - negotiating with other Tamil parties and with the other national minorities.

When the government finally did change its position to bring it in line with their military actions, the place that was affected the most was the Eastern Province, which the LTTE claims as part of its homeland. It has also been the site of most of the LTTE's attacks.

Some of the more common human rights abuses of the pre-1994 period in the Eastern Province have resumed after the brief lull of the ceasefire period. For example, civilians are often obliged to walk in front of army troops when they think there are mines in the road. Some people have been killed.

"At the checkpoints, there's the resumption of an activity from the early `90s" says Michael. "There are other militant groups, not as strong as the LTTE but with some recognition as political parties. Their cadres are working with the military at the checkpoints. A man or woman wearing a black hood with eyeholes looks out and tries to identify members or supporters of the LTTE.

"It opens the door not only for identifying LTTE members and supporters, but also other people with whom the minority parties disagree."

>>> Keeping the door open

Ironically, PBI had been considering winding down the Sri Lanka project before the ceasefire was broken. A decision was made to monitor the situation for a year.

When the fighting resumed, PBI began getting a lot of requests for accompaniment services from people who had started to develop community, peace, and human rights work; with counselling for victims of torture and detainees. There had been a high level of activity during the cessation of hostilities, not just in towns but also at the village level.

"When the war comes back, the villages are especially vulnerable because of their isolation. The door which was opened slams back and catches them in the face." says Michael. "They want to keep the level of activity they'd reached previously, but feel they need our help as they don't feel safe."

PBI workers have accompanied community workers, counsellors, and others to the villages in recent months. The kind of work done by these workers has changed in response to the resumed fighting: for instance, trying to help the men deal with checkpoints in a nonviolent fashion.

There is more than enough work for an international accompaniment project in the worst-affected regions of Sri Lanka. During the ceasefire period, the project had just three workers; one backup person at the project base in Colombo and two people 12 hours away in the Eastern Province, where they would work for a week at a time. It is now hoped that the team can be expanded to six members.

There will be trainings for prospective volunteers in the late autumn in the eastern USA and (probably) Europe. Contact the PBI Sri Lanka project office for further information.